Lessons of Cause and Effect

 

In my youth, I had no deep awareness of the Buddhist concept of cause and effect in life, which states that “what you say and do comes back to you.” However, around the age of 42, I experienced a painful setback and a period of deep despair, through which I came to understand the true meaning of cause and effect—something that had never crossed my mind before. Furthermore, I realized that unless I changed myself, similar events leading to major setbacks might occur again. I am not a particularly superstitious person, but in Japan it has long been believed that men who turn 42 (by traditional Japanese age reckoning) enter a period of great misfortune, when the consequences of past good and bad actions return to them. In my case, after passing that age, I could not help feeling that I, too, was experiencing such a period. In terms of personal growth, however, these arduous experiences gave me a valuable opportunity to understand myself more deeply and ultimately helped me grow as a person.

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